The 6-foot-9, 270-pound forward is the No. 27 overall recruit as rated by Rivals.com. The Bruins have been considered the favorites to land Parker, who played high school ball at Miller Grove High in Lithonia, Ga. He told Sporting News at the Jordan Brand Classic earlier this month that his list was down to UCLA, Ohio State, Kansas, Duke and Georgia.

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Parker is the fourth big-time recruit to join Ben Howland’s elite class of 2012, along with No. 1 Shabazz Muhammad, No. 3 Kyle Anderson and No. 62 Jordan Adams (those overall ratings by Rivals.com). With Muhammad and Anderson in the fold, this class was already expected to bring UCLA back to the nation’s elite, and the addition of Parker will only increase those expectations. The Bruins have missed the NCAA Tournament two of the last three seasons, going 14-18 in 2009-10 and then 19-14 last season.

Parker, who was one of the few remaining unsigned elite recruits in the country, has been on the receiving end of the recruiting full-court press for a long time now, and not just from head coaches . His teammates and opponents on the all-star games circuit have been in his ear, too. “I’ve been getting so many recruiting pitches, it’s hilarious,” Parker said at the JBC in Charlotte.

Apparently, two in particular were very convincing.

Anderson has been committed to UCLA since last September, and he’s been working on Parker in a way only a point guard can. “I definitely think Kyle Anderson looks out for me a little bit more because he wants me to go to UCLA,” Parker said on the JBC practice day. “He’s been my point guard in absolutely every All-Star Game that I’ve played in. It’s pretty cool that they’re trying to recruit you, that all these great players want you on their team.”

Anderson, who was Parker’s roommate for the multi-day Jordan event, didn’t deny that. “Definitely,” he said with a smile on JBC practice day. “I’m not going to hide that. There definitely will be. I’m definitely going to be looking for him.”

As it turned out, Parker and Anderson were playing in different five-man waves for the East squad at the Jordan game, so they weren’t on the court at the same time until there was just 1:40 left on the clock.

And then there’s Muhammad, who announced he was heading to UCLA when he arrived in Charlotte for the JBC. That didn’t leave him much time to woo Parker, but the nation’s top recruit let the big man know he was wanted.

"It's a big time program and needs big time players,” Muhammad told Sporting News’ Chris Littmann after the JBC game. “When you get big time players at big-time programs, you are successful on that level so I think if he puts himself in there with me, Kyle and the other McDonald's All-Americans they have, I think it will be a great opportunity for us."